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20 killed in NY wedding limo crash

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clapclapclap

clapclapclap 9,000

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https://www.timesunion.com/news/article/20-killed-in-Schoharie-limousine-crash-13288015.php#photo-16293279

SCHOHARIE - Twenty people died in Saturday's crash of a limousine in Schoharie County, State Police confirmed late Sunday morning.

An official familiar with the crash said 18 people died in the limousine and two bystanders were killed.

The crash is the deadliest in the Capital Region since the Oct. 2, 2005 sinking of the Ethan Allen tour boat on Lake George killed 20 people.

Investigators from the National Transportation Safety Board are investigating what local officials are describing as a mass casualty incident after a limo speeded down a hill and crashed into bystanders at the Apple Barrel Country Store around 1:55 p.m. Saturday.

It is not clear how many of the victims were in the vehicles that crashed at the intersections of Route 30 and Route 30A and how many were bystanders. The Apple Barrel's parking lot was filled with people and parked cars at the time of the crash.

The names of the victims are being withheld while troopers try to track down the families of the victims. State Police set up a special hotline for the families of people who fear a loved one died in the crash. Family members are encouraged to call the State Police at 1-877-672-4911.

A spokesman for the NTSB, which handles probes of major vehicular disasters, said Sunday that investigators were on their way into the area.

The NTSB investigators are expected to be in the area for days and then will sort through evidence and interviews to determine what caused the crash.

State Police will hold a press conference at 3 p.m. Sunday to provide more details.

Witnesses at the scene said several bodies could be seen on the ground outside the Apple Barrel.

It's unclear what kind of event the limo riders were traveling to or from.

Estimates on the number killed also varied wildly in the hours after the crash. A Facebook page called Schoharie County Fire Wire and News said it took down its initial post concerning the crash because of the false information that was being placed in the comment string.

State Police confirmed that 20 people died around 11:30 a.m. Sunday.

Gov. Andrew Cuomo put out a statement Sunday afternoon commending first responders who worked through the night at the scene.

"State police are working with federal and local authorities to investigate the crash, and I have directed State agencies to provide every resource necessary to aid in this investigation and determine what led to this tragedy."

"I join all New Yorkers in mourning these deaths and share in the unspeakable sorrow experienced by their families and loved ones during this extremely difficult time," the governor's statement said.

It appears that at least two vehicles - including an SUV-style stretch limousine - were involved in the crash. It was unclear if the impact killed pedestrians, passengers or both.

County dispatchers said they received the first of many 9-1-1 calls at 1:55 p.m. after the wreck near the store and restaurant in the town of Schoharie.

The emergency calls triggered a massive response that included six ambulances, three fire companies, and two helicopters.

Some of the injured were flown by helicopter to Albany Medical Center Hospital.

The Apple Barrel posted a note on Facebook that said it will be open Sunday, and will be collecting donations for the local volunteer agencies who responded to the scene of the crash.

"We hope you will come and share your smiles, love, friendship and hugs with us. We also hope you will share your change. We will be collecting donations for our local volunteer emergency services. They are the heroes of our small community."

"Our hearts and prayers go out to everyone that was affected by the events of today," the post continued. "You will always be part of our family."

The store also said, "We will not be discussing the events of today any further. Thank you for understanding."

Schoharie Town Supervisor Alan Tavenner said Saturday that improvements the state Department of Transportation made about seven years ago to the dangerous intersection didn't seem to make it safer.

"There have been tractor trailers that have come barreling down that hill and it was a miracle they didn't kill somebody," said Tavenner.

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RPM

RPM 26,356

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3 hours ago, SuingToGetAMessageBoard? said:

Are there really limos that hold 18 people?

Yeah, that word "limo" has a lot of definitions, not just a stretch sedan. When I went to boot camp my orders said a limo would take us from the airport to base. That "limo" was an old van with no a/c. That was the first of my letdowns in the military.

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SpiralOut

SpiralOut 1,818

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High rate of speed, a roll over, and probably no one wearing seat belts.  Doesn't seem a stretch that they all died. 

You ever watch one of those videos of a car crash where someone isn't wearing a seat belt?  Even if they don't get ejected, their body turns into a missile that slams into everyone else in the vehicle.

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Underdog

Underdog 28,776

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Two of the victims worked at the company the Wife and I do, she knew one of them and even talked to him couple of months ago regarding our Son's wedding and Honeymoon trip over to Ireland and Scotland.  He had only been married a month or so before our son's wedding. 

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po elvis

po elvis 2,077

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an article says that they redid the intersection because of a fatal accident in 2008. but since then, 3 tractor trailers have blown thru that stop sign. looks like they need better signage on the road coming up to the stop sign. need one of those signs with blinking lights on it. also should have those strips on the road to warn you when you run over them. of course none of this helps if your brakes give out.

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phdhorn

phdhorn 6,224

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9 hours ago, elfenix said:

 

400 foot hill, heavy vehicle, who wants to bet the brakes weren't upgraded?

Saw today where the company failed 3 out of the last 4 inspections, whatever those were for.

Limo companies take "regular" vehicles and modify them (super-pimp) in many cases.  Nuh-uh.  Not for me.

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clapclapclap

clapclapclap 9,000

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https://www.houstonchronicle.com/news/article/FBI-informant-in-terror-stings-owned-limo-in-13290392.php

FBI informant in terror stings owned limo in deadly crash, state source confirms

The owner of the limousine that crashed in Schoharie, killing 18 people on board and two pedestrians is a former FBI informant who testified in two high-profile terrorism cases, a state official confirmed Monday.

Shahed Hussain owns Prestige Limousine in Wilton, the official said. The limousine company is being scrutinized as federal and state investigators try to determine what caused the crash.

Gov. Andrew Cuomo on Monday said the limo involved in Saturday's crash at the intersection of Route 30A and Route 30 in Schoharie failed a state Department of Transportation inspection last month and should not have been on the road.

The driver, Cuomo said, did not have a proper license to operate the vehicle.

Prestige Limousine shares a business address with the Crest Inn Suites & Cottages in Wilton, a motel that is also owned by Hussain.

Hussain lived at the motel but on Monday morning, the manager of the motel, Arnie Cornett, said Hussain moved about 18 months ago. He still owns the motel and continues to operate the limo company.

An official said Hussain owns the business but the limo service might be operated by a son.

Hussain went by the name "Malik" when he owned a home in Loudonville and was used by the FBI in Albany to infiltrate a Central Avenue mosque.Yassin Aref, an Iraqi refugee, was imam of the mosque and the main target of the sting that began in 2003. Aref and an acquaintance, Mohammed Hussain, a Bangladeshi immigrant who owned a pizza shop, were both arrested in 2004 and accused of laundering money for Hussain in connection with a fictitious terror plot.

They were convicted in 2006 and both sentenced to 15 years in federal prison.

Hussain went to work for the FBI after being convicted of federal fraud charges in 2002 in Albany. He was taking payments from immigrants, some of whom could not read English, in a scheme to cheat on state exams to obtain driver's licenses.

In May 2009, Hussain again surfaced as an FBI informant when four men from Newburgh were charged with conspiring to plant explosives outside the Riverdale Jewish Center and Riverdale Temple in New York City. As in the Albany case, Hussain posed as a wealthy businessman and befriended the men before implicating them in a terror plot.

The four Newburgh men, Laguerre Payen, James Cromitie, Onta Williams, and David Williams, were convicted but the FBI's use of Hussain drew harsh criticism and raised entrapment questions.

Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration records on Prestige Limousine show that the company had two drivers and three vehicles.

A total of five inspections were done of the company's vehicles over the past 25 months, and 4 were taken out of service as a result, which is a rate of 80 percent failure. The national average is 20 percent.

No previous crashes were listed on the crashes were reported by the FMCSA.

Several years ago, Hussain got in trouble with the town of Wilton for running his limo business out of the back of the hotel. Town officials asked that he store the vehicles in Latham where they had previously been parked.

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clapclapclap

clapclapclap 9,000

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Some more details:

https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-6253639/Owner-limousine-company-involved-horror-crash-former-FBI-informant.html

...Hussain arrived in the United States in 1994 after fleeing his native Pakistan where he had been arrested for murder. 

4849414-6253639-Eighteen_of_those_killed

After his father bribed local police to let him go, Hussain fled the country, using a British passport to leave Pakistan, enter Moscow and then travel to Mexico. 

From Mexico, he entered the US through El Paso in Texas. From there, he traveled to Albany. 

Hussain then contacted an immigration lawyer who was then able to get him legal status by applying for political asylum. It enabled him to start working for the DMV where he was a translator for.

There, he started a racket where he offered prospective drivers guaranteed pass-marks in their road tests or safety quizzes for a fee by ensuring they went to corrupt examiners. 

In 2002, the FBI arrested him for the scam. 

Rather than charge him, they took him on as a confidential informant and he spent the next several years recording other conversations in the DMV for their benefit. 

Four years later, after filing bankruptcy and buying his son an Audi, he bought the hotel in Gansevoort which became the Crest Inn. 

He then was put to work by the FBI to infiltrate mosques, specifically in Newburgh, New York, and look for what he described as 'radicals'. The FBI paid him a salary of $96,000 for the work. 

'He was sent there per a number of reasons regarding other FBI investigations but I always ask him to keep his ears open if he heard individual speaking radically, including everyone has free rights to speech, but if it's regarding possible threats, I wanted that information,' FBI Agent Robert Fueller testified. 

His work in the Newburgh mosques, particularly the Masjid al-Ikhlas led, in part to the arrests of James Comitie, David Williams, Onta Williams and Laguerre Payen.  

They plotted to plant bombs at synagogues in the Bronx - Riverdale Temple and nearby Riverdale Jewish Center - and they also plotted to shoot down military planes at Stewart Air National Guard Base. 

The three men were arrested when Hussain drove them to the Riverdale mosque with explosives. Authorities were waiting for them. 

However valuable his undercover work was, he came under scrutiny as a witness and reliable informant during the trial when it was suggested he had turned off his recording equipment during crucial moments of conversation with the suspects. 

He also failed to disclose to the FBI that he was the beneficiary of a $500,000 trust fund in Pakistan while collecting a salary from the bureau and claiming bankruptcy. 

There were also claims of entrapment and even the judge who convicted the four men ruled in her verdict that Hussain's behavior as an informant was 'troubling'. 

He met Comitie first and then together they recruited the three others.  

Hussain, who was known also as Shahed Malik, was not at the motel in Gansevoort on Monday. 

A staff member told DailyMail.com she had never heard of Shahed Hussain, instead saying: 'The people that run this place are called Malik. I’ve never even met them either.

‘There are certainly no limos run out of here. We’re just here to collect the money and stop the guests killing each other,' she said. 

One of the many addresses the limousine company is listed to is the same Albany address Hussain gave when he was caught in his DMV scam in 2002.  

 

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Beau Vine

Beau Vine 54,444

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Shocker:
 

Quote

The limousine involved in an accident that killed 20 people in upstate New York on Saturday, including two pedestrians and all those riding inside, failed an inspection last month and should not have been on the road, according to New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo.

 

"The owner of the company had no business putting a failed vehicle on the road," Cuomo said on Monday while speaking to press.

Cuomo also said the driver of the vehicle, identified by multiple law enforcement officials as Scott Lisnicchia, 53, did not have the specific license — a commercial driver's license with a passenger endorsement — required to drive the limousineA New York state trooper and a member of the National Transportation Safety Board view the scene of Saturday's fatal crash in Schoharie, N.Y., Sunday, Oct. 7, 2018. A limousine loaded with revelers headed to a 30th birthday party blew a stop sign at the end of a highway and slammed into an SUV parked outside a store, killing all people in the limo and a few pedestrians, officials and relatives of the victims said Sunday. (AP Photo/Hans Pennink)

  • Debris scatters an area Sunday, Oct. 7, 2018, at the site of yesterday's fatal crash Schoharie, N.Y.
  •  
 
 
 
 

 

It is still not clear whether the limousine crash was the driver's fault or a vehicle malfunction of the, Cuomo said, but that the National Transportation Safety Board and state police were investigating.

Prestige Limousine, the company responsible for the vehicle, was being sent a cease and desist until the investigation is complete, Cuomo said.

A spokesperson for Prestige Limousine did not immediately respond to a request for comment regarding Cuomo's statement.

Earlier, a company spokesperson told NBC's "Today" that they are "devastated by this loss," but declined to comment further because their owner is out of the country.

Cuomo said the limousine was a "chopped vehicle," meaning it had been cut and elongated and needed federal certification that it had been extended in a way that is compliant with the law, which it did not have."I think the owner of Prestige has a lot of questions to answer," Cuomo said.

 

He added that laws and policies in New York state should have prevented the crash, but those laws and policies were broken in this case.

 

Edited by Beau Vine
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Brisketexan

Brisketexan 105,383

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I mean, couldn't it be considered a terrorist act at this point?

I mean, other than it having no political purpose or goals, or no intent to strike terror in any population? Oh, wait...a dirty ay-rab owns the place. So if he does something criminally shady, or transforms from “criminal” to “terrorism.”

Dude. He’s just a fucking criminal.
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immortal13

immortal13 4,059

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5 hours ago, Brisketexan said:


I mean, other than it having no political purpose or goals, or no intent to strike terror in any population? Oh, wait...a dirty ay-rab owns the place. So if he does something criminally shady, or transforms from “criminal” to “terrorism.”

Dude. He’s just a fucking criminal.

Murderer

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